Chester County Day features famous old tree

WEST MARLBOROUGH -- Chester County Day, the annual event that shows off many of the area’s most spectacular properties, highlighted one of the state’s largest and oldest trees: the Penn Oak at London Grove Friends Meetinghouse.

At 21 feet in circumference at the base, it is so-named because it was present on the grounds of the meeting in 1683, when William Penn founded the state.

Beginning at mid-morning on Saturday, visitors from all over marveled at the giant oak, still loaded with leaves before its annual autumnal shedding.

Photographer Red Hamer, who manned the station beside the tree, showed pictures he has taken of it in the past and featured in a book. He said it was one of the biggest and oldest trees he has seen, although he said he once photographed an oak that was 482-years-old in Wye Mills, Md.

Plant and garden expert Susan Goldsworthy, who is a member of the meeting, said the tree is “our love.”

She said an arborist comes once a year to care for it and feed it, as well as to check on the cables which keep it stable. The tree also has a lightning rod on top, but Goldsworthy said it has not been struck in her memory.

Fifteen years ago the tree looked as though it was struggling, Goldsworthy said, but its caretakers readjusted what they were doing with its mulch and now it seems in good shape.

“It’s still growing. It grows seven inches every 10 years,” she said.

She added that each year, the children who attend the London Grove Friends Meeting Kindergarten gather hands around the tree to see how many of them it takes to complete the circle.

Chester County Day is held annually on the first Saturday in October, and the area it covers rotates around the county. This year it was the southeast quadrant. The houses opened for visitors were located as far east as Chadds Ford and as far west as the meetinghouse.

Visitors were able to eat along the way, as several of the locations had tables set up and issued box lunches that have been ordered ahead of time. The Friends meeting was one of those locations.

Chester County Days benefit the Chester County Hospital and to date has contributed close to $4 million.